MOUNT Gambier City Council will adopt new location rules to encourage mobile food vendors to operate in the city.
In August last year the State Government passed the Local Government (Mobile Food Vendors) Amendment Act to support food truck vendors and to ensure entrepreneurial activity was not held back by complex legislation.
The Act started to operate on March 1 this year, giving council the power to set out locations across the city where mobile food vending businesses can operate, while protecting the interests of fixed premises and food traders.
Prospective mobile food vendors will be able to apply to council for a permit to operate in accordance with council’s location rules.
A mobile food vendor permit fee will be charged at $820 annually or $100 monthly and will allow vendors to trade on any road in the city save for a few exceptions.
The permit excludes locations including residential zones and rural living zones that are not directly adjacent to an existing reserve, as well as Commercial Street East and West, Sturt Street and Helen Street between 7.30am and 5.30pm Monday to Wednesday.
The same streets in the central business district are restricted on Thursday’s from 7.30am to 8pm, Friday’s from 7.30am to 5.30pm and on Saturday’s from 7.30am to 12.30pm.
A mobile food vendor must select a site at a “reasonable distance” from fixed food businesses during the operating hours of the fixed food businesses.
Under the new rules, if surrounding businesses raise concerns about the location of a mobile food vendor, council may require the vending operation to relocate.
Both the permit and location rules will be reviewed by council in six months.
